PacWest finally confirms Lights champ Dixon.

The PacWest Racing Group has confirmed that young New Zealand driver Scott Dixon will pilot its #18 Reynard-Toyota on a full-time basis this season.

A six-time Indy Lights winner in 2000, Dixon is seen as an investment in the team's long-term future, according to team owner Bruce McCaw, who has made Dixon the youngest driver in the 2001 title chase at just 20 years of age.

"We decided to invest in an Indy Lights operation four years ago in an effort to create our own breeding ground for future Champcar drivers," said McCaw, "There is little doubt that Scott is a very talented young driver who has the ability to go on to great things in this sport.

"I think he has learned a lot this past season, and I am sure he will develop and mature as both a driver and person with our experienced team of professionals around him this coming year. He did the job required in a two-day test at Laguna Seca earlier in the 2000 season, and that gave him a taste of what's to come."

Dixon, who will be the first New Zealander to have a full-time ride in the FedEx Championship Series, was obviously delighted to secure his role with PacWest.

"A Champcar drive has been my goal since day one, and it's fantastic that I will realise that at this stage of my career," he said, "I have to thank Bruce McCaw and the rest of the PacWest operation for giving me this opportunity, in what is the world's most competitive open-wheel series.

"I've enjoyed my testing in the Champcar, especially during this off-season, and I cannot wait to get out there full-time. I am going to be on a steep learning curve, but I would like to think that we can be competitive and challenging for wins early into the season. I believe the Toyota engine package is the one to have next season, and that PacWest can play a big role in helping Toyota win the manufacturers' championship."

Dixon impressed the team's director of racing operations Russell Cameron when he took part in a Laguna Seca test last September, having earlier impressed the team during a one-day 'rookie' test at Putnam Park, which was completed in both wet and dry conditions.

"I think Scott was the obvious choice for the vacant Champcar seat after his effort in the Dayton Indy Lights series this year and from the results he produced at tests during the 2000 season," said Cameron, "He learned a lot from PacWest Lights team manager 'Ziggy' Harcus last year, and I am sure he will bring a youthful shot of enthusiasm to the team."

Dixon is the latest in a long line of Indy Lights drivers to progress to the Champcar ranks, including current drivers Paul Tracy, Adrian Fernandez and Oriol Servia. He joined the PacWest Lights team in 2000 after a debut season with Johansson Motorsports, where he won at Chicago from the pole and finished fifth in the championship - missing 'Rookie of the Year' honours by just one point.

Like so many more before him, Dixon started his career karting in New Zealand. At the age of just 13, Dixon was granted a special Motorsport Association of NZ 'Junior Licence' that allowed him to compete at the club and national level, even though he was still a couple of years away from being granted a regular road-going permit. He qualified fourth and finished third in his first-ever Formula Vee race and went on to set lap records and win races en route to the 1993-94 National Championship.

Dixon went on to win many more races and titles in his home land before accepting an offer to drive in the 1997 Australian Formula Holden Championship - a single-seater 'slicks and wings' category - in which he finished third and was named 'Rookie of the Year'. He won the title the following year.

On the strength of that crown, and a lap record-breaking test at Sebring, Johansson Motorsports signed Dixon for 1999, and he made an immediate impact by qualifying fourth and finishing third in his debut race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and then finishing second in the next event at Long Beach. Last year, his Dayton Indy Lights results spoke for themselves.

Dixon replaces out-of-favour Briton Mark Blundell at PacWest for 2001.